Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a work of children's literature by Lewis Carroll, or Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. Carroll wrote Through the Looking Glass as the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). It is almost a mirror image of Alice in Wonderland in terms of setting and imagery; the first book begins outdoors in the warm month of May, uses frequent changes in size as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of playing cards; the second opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of chess. Carroll incorporates many mirror themes, including opposites and time running backwards, into the plot. Plot Alice is playing with her kittens—a black kitten named Kitty and a white kitten named Snowdrop, the offspring of Dinah, Alice's pet cat in the first book—when she begins to wonder what the world is like on the other side of a mirror (the reflected scene displayed on its surface). To her surprise, she is able to pass through the glass to experience the alternate world on the other side. There, she discovers a book of looking-glass poetry, "Jabberwocky", which she can read only by holding it up to a mirror. Upon leaving the house, Alice enters a garden where the Flowers speak to her and mistake her for a flower. There, Alice also meets the Red Queen, who offers a throne to Alice if she can move to the eighth rank in a real life chess match. Alice is placed as the White Queen's pawn, and begins the game by taking a train to the fourth rank, acting on the rule that pawns in chess can move two spaces on their first move. Alice meets a gnat who is very sad and after the journey, he introduces her to the Bread-and-Butterfly, the Rocking-Horse-Fly, and the Snap-Dragonfly. Alice then walks with a fawn until it remembers it is a fawn and Alice a human child, which then it runs off. Alice then meets Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, whom she knows from the famous nursery rhyme. After reciting to her the long poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter," the two proceed to act out the events of their own poem, staging a battle in armor fashioned from sheets and coal scuttles. Alice continues on to meet the White Queen, who is very absent-minded and later transforms into a Sheep. Alice then finds herself on a small boat, a dingy. The following chapter details Alice's meeting with Humpty Dumpty, who explains to her the meaning of "Jabberwocky" before his inevitable fall from the wall. This is followed by an encounter with the Lion and the Unicorn, who again proceed to act out a nursery rhyme, fighting each other violently for the crown. Alice is then rescued from the Red Knight by the White Knight, who repeatedly falls off his horse and recites a poem of his own composition to her. At this point, Alice reaches the eighth rank and becomes a queen, and by capturing the Red Queen, puts the Red King (who has remained stationary throughout the book) into checkmate. She then awakes from her dream, holding the black kitten, whom she believes to have been the Red Queen, and imagines that the white kitten must have been the White Queen. Characters *Alice *Dinah *Kitty *Sowdrop *Clock *White King *White Queen *Red King *Red Queen *Lilly *Toves *Borogroves *Mome Raths *Jabberwock *Jubjub Bird *Bandersnatch *Tiger-Lilly *Larkspur *Guard *Gentleman in Paper Suit *Gnat *Rocking-Horse-Fly *Bread-and-Butterfly *Snap-Drangonfly *Fawn *Tweedle Dee *Tweedle Dum *Humpty Dumpty *Lion *Unicorn *Red Knight *White Knight Category:Books